24.15
When
the bugles began to sound the next morning the volunteer slaves were the
first to muster in front of the headquarters' tent, armed and ready. As soon as
the sun was risen Gracchus led his forces into the field, and the enemy
showed no slackness in meeting him. He had 17,000 infantry, mostly
Bruttians and Lucanians, and 1200 cavalry, amongst whom were very few
Italians, the rest were almost all Numidians and Moors. The battle was a
severe and protracted one; for four hours neither side gained any advantage.
Nothing hampered the Romans more than the setting a price upon the heads
of their foes, the price of liberty, for no sooner had any one made a furious
attack upon an enemy and killed him than he lost time in cutting off his head
-a difficult matter in the tumult and turmoil of the battle -and then, as their
right hands were occupied in holding the heads all the best soldiers were no
longer able to fight, and the battle was left to the slow and the timid. The
military tribunes reported to their general that not a man of the enemy was
being wounded as he stood, whilst those who had fallen were being
butchered and the soldiers were carrying human heads in their right hands
instead of swords. Gracchus made them at once give the order to throw
down the heads and attack the enemy, and to tell them that their courage
was sufficiently clear and conspicuous, and that there would be no question
about liberty for brave men. On this the fighting was renewed and even the
cavalry were sent against the enemy. The Numidians made a countercharge
with great impetuosity, and the fighting became as fierce between the cavalry
as it was amongst the infantry, making the issue of the contest again
uncertain. The generals on both sides now appealed to their men; the Roman
pointed to the Bruttians and Lucanians who had been so often defeated and
crushed by their ancestors; the Carthaginian showered contempt upon
Roman slaves and soldiers taken out of the workshops. At last Gracchus
gave out that there would be no hope whatever of liberty if the enemy were
not routed and put to flight that day.
